


Moonlight Sonata

by chronicAngel



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Pianist, Alternate Universe - Police, Gen, POV Third Person
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-26
Updated: 2018-11-26
Packaged: 2019-08-29 18:59:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16749763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronicAngel/pseuds/chronicAngel
Summary: Tsunade calls him into her office nearly three months after he's started working at the precinct and informs him that they've had a new officer transfer in from the 11th precinct after getting into a fight with one of their officers, and Naruto immediately knows that this meeting is going to be, to steal a phrase from Shikamaru, a total drag."You two are going to be partners," she says, glancing over whatever folder is on top of one of the mountains of paperwork on her desk. She hardly seems to be reading anything in it so much as skimming the various pages, but eventually she glances up at the both of them where they sit staring at each other in disgust. "This isn't up for debate. What are you still doing in my office?"





	1. Prologue: Rhapsody In Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Have you ever wanted a Cop AU and a Pianist AU all in one go? Boy have I got the fic for you...

Her emotions can always be heard in every note.

When they met, she had so much anger. He remembers feeling the rage shaking the entire building as she played through Brahms' First Symphony, a song that normally isn't even for piano. He had peered around the door as much as he could without the audience seeing him to see her entire body swaying as she played, red hair swishing dangerously by her hips. He remembers worrying that she was going to sit on it and hurt herself. He couldn't drag his eyes away, looking between her hair and her face where her eyes were closed, not even reading the notes, and her hands pressing angrily down on the keys yet still managing to look graceful, in a way.

She had stood when she finished the piece, chest heaving with her breaths, and he remembers thinking back then, _What does she have to be so mad about_ _?_ He'd wanted to ask her so bad. She bowed twice, then stepped back into the back room where all of the competitors were staying, and he'd even opened his mouth to ask as she passed him. Then they made brief eye contact and any thoughts of speaking scattered until she was gone and he was being called onto stage to perform Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

The results had been announced hours later and he remembers the absolutely crushed look on her face when she saw that she'd only managed third place, right below him and a boy whose name he can't even remember anymore. They'd made eye contact again, then, only a few feet away with a small horde of people pushing to get past them and see the results. He remembers thinking she was going to murder him, twelve years old and already so furious at the world.

Now, her playing is filled with love and relief. She hasn't touched the piano in almost a week, stuck in the hospital with their newborn son for the last five days. Naruto was smaller than he was supposed to be, especially for being an entire month late, and the doctors put him in a baby incubator for four days to observe him and make sure his health was otherwise fine. He had to go back to work after the first two and he'd spent all day both days worrying that his son was going to die in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Kushina was going to be all alone in her hospital room when it happened.

Naruto rubs at his eyes with tiny hands in Minato's arms and then yawns, waking up at the sound of his mother's playing. It's his first time hearing it in the real world, but Minato is certain that he's gotten quite the earful whenever Kushina played while she was pregnant.

He peers around at their living room with the brightest blue eyes Minato has ever seen, looking for his mom. Even Minato cannot help but stare at his wife, as enraptured with her as he always is. She has not even bothered to take off the green apron she wears when cleaning, the duster still laying abandoned on top of the piano in front of a picture frame that holds one of their wedding photos.

He recognizes it as Grieg's Hall of the Mountain King, the notes less hard than one often hears from less experienced players. It's a piece that she has mastered in a thousand different ways and he is happy to hear it sing from her fingertips every single time. It almost makes him miss his own days as a piano instructor, sitting by her side to play duet pieces while young students watched the two of them play in perfect harmony. Little hands that could hardly reach the different keys once they were placed on the bench slamming together in excited applause once they were done. Even Kakashi hadn't always managed to stay stoic, eyes going wide while Obito clapped and Rin squealed in delight at either of his sides.

She finishes and her whole body sags somewhat, shoulders relaxing and head falling forward even as it makes her hair fall in her face. Minato grabs each of Naruto's little hands and makes him clap as well as he can while all of his little fingers are still curled up. To his credit, the five-day-old stares in astonishment at the way his hands move and then beams at his mother where she sits on the piano bench. She slowly brings her head up to look at them and grin back, her eyes closing with how broad her toothy smile is. "Do you like the piano, Naruto?" She asks, a warm laugh bubbling at the edge of her voice.

"Maybe one day you'll be as good as your mama," Minato says to the baby, cradling him slightly closer to his chest.

"Or maybe you'll ditch it to be a cop like your dad," Kushina teases, holding her hands out for the baby. Though he has just woken up, he suspects she's going to try to get him back to sleep. It's never been hard. Naruto almost never cries, content to fall asleep in your arms if you hold him still for more than a second without something for his big blue eyes to hone in on in fascination. It often seems like he only has two modes: eyes wide open to study everything, and asleep.

He scoffs while she takes Naruto, an arm supporting his back and laying his neck against her bicep to support his head. He is still too young to properly hold it upright by himself. "I didn't _ditch_ it. I still play." She hums, ignoring him to stare down at Naruto's chubby face. A more spiteful part of him is tempted to start playing right then and there to prove that he's still got it. Instead, he slides next to her on the piano bench and wraps an arm around her, tugging her and Naruto in close.

"Kakashi will be here soon," she says, almost absentminded. She sounds as though she forgot and has only just remembered, but it's not a pressing matter. He wants to ask her if she's really up for going back to teaching already, only five days after giving birth and still so exhausted with Naruto so much of the time. _I wouldn't mind calling him and telling him that you're not up for it this week_ , he thinks. Another part of him is tempted to offer to take over the lesson for her. Let her have some alone time with Naruto. "I know that face," she says, interrupting his thoughts. "Stop worrying."

"I'm not--" He starts, then cuts himself off, realizing that it's pointless to argue. She knows him too well, always has. "Naruto is still so young, and you only gave birth five days ago. Don't you worry that it might be a little early for the two of you to have people over? Kakashi's a quiet, sweet kid, but even he wears you out sometimes." Kushina's face softens in fondness but before she can respond to his concerns, there's a knock at the door. "Speak of the devil," he thinks, trying not to sigh. He kisses her cheek and then Naruto's forehead before standing.

As a popular man in the neighborhood and the husband of a piano instructor whose best student was already supposed to be on his way to their house, he is fairly confident that it is Kakashi or else one of their neighbors at the door. As the captain of Konoha's 7th precinct and a new father, he is still cautious enough to look through the peephole before opening the door. _Lucky I did or else I might already be dead_ , he thinks, immediately going to lock the door and then turning to Kushina. "Take Naruto to the nursery and lock the door behind you," he says over his shoulder, trying not to let the panic he is feeling seep into his voice.

She does not hesitate before she stands and starts down the hallway, running as fast as she can with an infant in her arms. The masked individual on the other side of the door starts banging on it, apparently hearing him through the wood. He is thankful that they live on the newer side of town and not the Old Konoha district with shōji at every house.

When he hears the nursery door faintly click shut down the hall, he walks to their bedroom, forcing himself to be calm. His gun is locked in a safe in there, put away somewhere a child could not get it the day they learned Kushina was pregnant. _Do you know how many houses my officers have gone to where a child got a hold of their parents' gun and shot themselves?_ He had said, ever the worrywart, even as she wasn't even really arguing. Now, as he frantically tries to type in the eight digit code to the safe to protect his wife and child with that gun, he thinks that he might just have been a bit too much of a worrywart this time. _07101970_ , he thinks to himself as he types it to ensure he gets it right with how badly his hands are shaking. He still has to type it twice.

By the time the pistol is in his hand, he hears the front door slamming into the wall, and he supposes that the lock has finally broken. _At least it held him off long enough that I was able to get the handgun_ , he thinks, and slowly he starts creeping out of the room and into the hallway to confront the intruder. Wherever he is, he is being quiet. _Like he's done this before_ , he notes for the report he will later have to make. _Assuming I get that far_.

When he is by the nursery door, he yells, "Whoever you are, just come out with your hands up. I don't want to hurt you, but I will not hesitate to shoot if you threaten my wife or child. I'm armed."

"How convenient," says the man, making an appearance for the first time since Minato saw him through the peephole. "I am, too," he says, sounding almost amused, then takes aim and fires. He misses completely, and Minato chances a glance over his shoulder to see the fresh bullet hole in their towel cabinet at the end of the hall before snapping his eyes back to the intruder.

He fires in retaliation, landing a shot on the intruder's shoulder. "I'm not shooting to kill. Please put down your weapon and let me call the police." The man laughs through his pain and it chills Minato to his very core.

In the nursery, he hears Naruto start to cry, loud wails that make his heart throb. "Kushina, Naruto, everything's going to be okay," he yells through the door, though it feels like he is lying. Naruto only cries louder at hearing his father's voice, so young and small and confused. He feels tears in his own eyes. "No, Naruto, shhh. It's okay. It's gonna be--" If he finishes the sentence, he does not hear himself over more gunshots. He falls back against the door immediately with the pain and the pressure and realizes that _Oh, shit, it was him. He was just shot_. He manages two more ragged breaths before he can't feel anything at all anymore, sliding to the floor.

On the other side of the door, Kushina holds her newborn close to her chest, trying to comfort him or at least quiet him. It's hard when she herself is panicking.

"Minato?" She asks after the fourth gunshot, tears in her voice. "Minato?!" Naruto wails louder and she realizes that he must sense her panic, so she clings him closer to her body and rocks him as best she can while sitting on the floor in his nursery in front of his crib. "No, shh, it's okay. It's okay, baby. It's okay." She repeats it over and over again, breathy whispers even as she feels the tears starting to run down her own face. It does nothing to calm him.

There is another gunshot and then the door swings open, her husband's body dropping to the floor in the doorway and a tall man in a mask standing over his corpse. There's blood all over his chest, horrifying bullet wounds that she has to reassure herself could not have hurt for very long. She scrambles to her feet, clinging even tighter to the screaming Naruto. "Please," she whispers, not even sure the intruder can hear her. "Please don't hurt us."

He seems to startle, as though he had not been looking at them and in fact only just noticed where they were. Immediately, he lifts the gun and pulls the trigger, and there is a loud gunshot that makes her scream, first in fear and then in pain as she feels a searing pain in her stomach. Her entire body is on fire and it takes everything she has not to writhe in pain or drop to the floor but she can't because she is still holding Naruto. "Don't hurt my son," she sobs, unable to deny any longer that this man is about to kill her. That this man has just killed her husband.

"Kushina-sensei! Minato-sensei! Sorry if I'm intruding, the door was open. I know I'm late..." She does not catch any more of what Kakashi is saying over her own scream of agony and the seventh gunshot, but she is positive it is him saying it. It feels as though she is looking at the world with bleach in her eyes, black eating at the edges of her vision. She gave birth five days ago and she's not sure she has ever been in this much pain. Faintly, as though it is a thousand miles away even though she knows it is right next to her, she registers the sound of the window sliding open as footsteps beat against the hardwood flooring of their hallway. "Minato-sensei?!" She hears, alarmed and afraid and not at all like Kakashi. He's always been so distant. Never the sort to show emotion like this.

"Naruto?" She can't hear him crying anymore. Just a moment ago, he was wailing, but beside the ringing in her own ears and the occasional terrified yell from Kakashi it is simply silence. "Naruto?!"

She looks down at the baby in her arms to see him staring up at her with bright blue eyes rimmed with red. There is blood on his face and soaking into his blanket and for a moment she is terrified. "Kushina!" She hears, the honorific dropped, but it is as though it is down a tunnel. _My baby_ , she thinks, trying not to sob. _He shot my son. He shot my baby_. She fights the pain and adrenaline and fear and _everything_ and focuses on lifting her hand to run a finger over his cheek. The blood smears onto her finger, no injury in sight.

Indeed, when she squints at his blanket, the blood seems to be seeping into the material, not seeping through it. She is flooded with relief. "You're okay," she says, barely above a whisper if, indeed, it is at all, and she hears the tears in her voice. "Naruto... you're okay..." She sniffs, staring into his bright blue eyes. They are so much like Minato's. He'd argued with her when Naruto was born, before the doctors and the incubator and the long nights spent crying made it all seem trivial, that they were only blue because he was a baby, and that they would become the violet grey of her family as he grew older. Privately, she hopes they won't.

"Everything's going to be okay," she hears Kakashi say, suddenly right next to her, and she finally tears her eyes away from her son to look at her student's face.

"Kakashi..." She breathes. It feels as though it rattles through her chest. "Kakashi, I'm so sorry. I'm so so sorry."

He shakes his head and she thinks, if she focuses hard enough, she can see tears running down the fourteen-year-old's pale face. "Stop. Stop apologizing. You don't have anything to apologize for. You're gonna be _fine_ ," he insists. Weakly, she moves one of her hands to his face, resting on his cheek. It is warm and wet beneath her fingers, and she knows that she is getting blood on his face.

"You're so young. You shouldn't have to see this. You shouldn't be responsible for this. Please don't feel responsible for this," she says, trying to hammer in the message with her eyes. In contrast, he squeezes his shut and shakes his head. She tries to inhale to say more and instead coughs, wet and painful. It feels like she is choking on the pain, but she squeezes her eyes shut and forces her way through it.

"Naruto," she says, letting her head fall forward to look down at her son when enough of the pain has ebbed away that she can open her eyes once more. She thinks that this must be a sign she doesn't have long left. "There's so much I want to tell you before I go. I want to see you walk. Hear you talk. Teach you piano. Tell you about girls..." She sniffs, her eyes stinging with tears. "Watch you grow up. I want to stay with you." She sobs. "I want to stay with you," she repeats. "I love you so much."

As though sensing what is about to happen, Kakashi takes Naruto from her just as she collapses back against the crib, her breathing ragged. It is another half hour before she dies, an agonizing thirty minutes where she can hardly get air into her lungs before it all just fades away. It's another hour and a half after that before the police arrive. Kakashi looks up at them when they step into the room, glaring through tears. "A neighbor said they heard gunshots--"

"You're too late," he spits, holding Naruto close.


	2. Chapter 1: Dance of the Hours

He thinks that the sound of the clock ticking is going to drive him insane. "I hate clocks," he murmurs to no one in particular. He really just feels like complaining. "What's even the point of them? Who looked at the wall and thought, 'Oh, you know what that needs? A stupid round box filled with gears with these sticks we're gonna call hands and they point at numbers to tell you what time it is. We'll call it a clock. Why? I don't know, I'm some idiot inventing a stupid clock.'" He crosses his arms over his chest. "It's not like you can just look outside and tell what time it is based on some convenient, natural source. _Oh wait_ ," he grumbles, glaring out the window. He doesn't need the clock to tell him that it's ten. The sun is high in the sky and birds are resting on one of the tree branches outside his apartment's little kitchen window looking cozy.

To pass the time, he absentmindedly fills a pot with water and turns on the stove to boil it. Normally he'd just microwave his instant ramen, but this is a better method of passing the time without thinking about the time. _A watched pot never boils_ , he thinks, rolling his eyes. _That's what Kakashi'd say_. In direct contrast to the proverb, he stares at the pot the entire time until he sees bubbles, and then moves to grab a ramen cup. He spends nearly a full minute debating whether he wants chicken or beef, before grabbing a beef and pouring the boiling water into it. Three minutes and he's slurping up noodles, glaring at his door. _Knock_ , he thinks. No one is on the other side to respond to his mental command.

He finishes the cup and deposits the empty Styrofoam into the trash can and then goes back to glaring at the front door, leaning against the counter. _Come on, knock!_ He whines internally. This goes on for several minutes before, _finally_ , there is a sharp, impatient rapping against the wood.

It is maybe a few seconds before he is at the door and unlocking it. He knows he probably should peer through the peephole to ensure it is someone he wants to see, but he is buzzing with too much nervous energy and at this point he is so anxious and bored that he would welcome a murderer into his apartment if it meant something interesting would finally happen.

"Naruto," Iruka says, blinking at him in surprise. It is rare that he answers the door so quickly, rarer still if it is at ten in the morning. He has a tendency to sleep in. _Hopefully that'll be changing soon_ , he thinks.

"What's the news?" He says, scooting out of the doorway and practically dragging Iruka inside.

There is a moment where Iruka's face drops and he feels his heart shatter. _No! Again? This is my third time taking that stupid exam! There's no way they'll let me in if I failed a third time!_ The dread must start to show on Naruto's face, because immediately Iruka brightens and holds out a paper to him. "You passed!" He says, beaming. Naruto takes the paper and stares at it with wide eyes.

It is by no means a perfect score. There is a math section he did not do great on, and he lost a couple of points in areas of the test where there was a lot of reading involved, but he _passed_. Right in front of his very eyes is a paper that proves he got an 82% on his entrance exam to the Konoha Police Academy, and sure, it could certainly be better, but _he passed and he gets to go to the academy!_ "Iruka-sensei!" He yells, putting the paper down on the nearest flat surface and then throwing his arms around the instructor. It is only a few seconds before his hug is returned, lean arms wrapping tightly around his midriff.

Six months later, he stands with the rest of his class from the Academy in front of a small crowd of doting relatives and close friends that watch with wide eyes as they take their oaths. "On my honor, I will never betray my badge, my integrity, my character, or the public trust," Iruka calls from behind a podium, wearing a grin Naruto has gotten to know well over the years. They all repeat after him.

"I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always uphold the Constitution, my community, and the agency I serve." He knows Kakashi is somewhere in the front of the crowd. _No Jiraiya, though_ , he thinks. _And no parents_... He forces himself to grin even wider than he already was while he talks even as he is pretty sure no one but the graduates on either side of him can see it. _Mom? Dad? Can you see me? I'm on the track to becoming a captain in no time, believe it!_

He is sure there are tears in his eyes as he lets his hand drop down to his side in time with everyone else. _I'm a real police officer now. Just like Dad was._ A minute later, they are allowed to return to their friends and family among the crowd. Kakashi rests a hand on top of his head and ruffles his hair. "I'm proud of you, Naruto." He thinks this must be the fifth time in his life, _maybe_ , that Kakashi has ever said that to him. "Don't think that I'm just going to hand you a position at the 7th precinct, though. I'll write you a professional recommendation, but if you get turned down, I'm not going to use my position as a sergeant to change the captain's mind," he warns immediately afterward.

Naruto sticks his tongue out at him childishly, ignoring the look that Sasuke throws him from a few yards away where he stands with his absolutely huge family.  _Snobby Uchiha_ , he thinks, almost rolling his eyes. "Don't be such an idiot, Kakashi! I'm gonna get in on my own merit, believe it!"

And he does. Within three months, Naruto has learned the names of all of his new coworkers at Konoha's 7th precinct. Of course Kakashi is a sergeant and Naruto knows him from childhood because of his parents (parents he never really got to know, mind you), but there's also the precinct's captain, Tsunade (he swears he knows that name from somewhere) and her assistant Shizune who spends most of her day at a desk just outside Tsunade's office, taking phone calls and filling out paperwork. He thinks she probably has the most important job in the entire building and has said so numerous times.

The first person he meets is Sai, who is sort of like a golden retriever that greets everyone at the door, but a super smart golden retriever who can pick up clues from a mile away but couldn't pick up social cues if you put them in a sandwich and shoved it in his mouth. _His foot must be taking up all the room in there_ , Naruto thinks privately one day, and then stares at Sai in horror with the irrational fear that the detective is somehow going to read his mind. He hasn't given much indication thus far that he has the ability to do so, but Naruto thinks he's just biding his time.

Later the same day that he meets Sai, he finds Shikamaru, Ino, and Chōji in the break room. Chōji munches on a box of glazed donuts, peering around Ino and Shikamaru where they stand between him in the TV having some screaming match. _I guess he's where the stereotype comes from_ , he thinks, pouring himself a cup of coffee and then filling it to the brim with creamer and sugar. He leans against a counter and watches the show, wondering how long it'll take the couple to notice him. _'We're not a couple!'_ He can practically hear them scream in his head even as he doesn't comment aloud.

"Are they at it again? They've been fighting constantly since he was promoted to detective last month. Scoot over, I need caffeine."

A man wearing dark sunglasses so thick they almost look prescription pokes at his side until he's squirmed away enough that he can fill a positively huge mug with coffee, and Naruto crinkles his nose as he sips it black then calls to the arguing pair to knock it off. "Shino!" Ino calls, long ponytail swishing as she whips her head around to glare at the guy-- Shino, apparently. "Butt out of i-- Oh, is that the new guy?"

As though a switch has been flipped, Ino immediately puts on a bright smile and makes her way over to him. "Hi! I'm Ino. I'm one of the officers here, but I usually hang out in interrogation so we might not see each other a ton. You're the new beat cop, right?"

"Oi, Ino, be nice. Some of the newbies get offended by the term beat cop," Chōji chimes over his shoulder without really looking away from the TV screen. It seems as though this is his usual position in interactions between Ino and other people.

" _You_ work in interrogation?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Not exactly the intimidating type, right?" Shikamaru says, an amused quirk at the edges of his lips.

Ino whips around to glare at him. "Shikamaru if you don't can it I swear I will shove my boot so far up your ass your saliva will be my new boot polish and you'll have to learn sign language just to communicate because your mouth will be occupied, assuming my boot even has room with your own foot in your mouth all the time." He and Shikamaru both wince at the threat. The rest of the interaction goes similarly.

It takes a few days for him to learn the names of the guys who sit at the desk near the entrance and take calls, but once he does he makes it a point to wave at Izumo and Kotetsu every day as he's coming in. By the end of his first week they smile and greet him by name even when they are in the middle of calls, and he knows it's not very professional but it still puts a goofy grin on his face every time as he's sitting at his desk. It gives him enough motivation to suffer through Sai at nine in the morning before he can get his coffee from the break room.

It is during his second week that he finally meets the goddess who makes the coffee, showing up early for the first time in his life to fill out extra paperwork for Ino. He doesn't know how she even talked him into doing it, but one day he was excited at the prospect of sleeping in because he didn't have a shift and the next he was showing up to cover her shift. _It's like some sort of witchcraft_ , he thinks.

Then his eyes land on her, stuffing the fresh coffee filter into the machine, and he nearly drops his mug. Her hair is bright pink-- certainly the sort of thing he would have noticed if she was an officer-- and pulled back into a long ponytail that does not quite rival Ino's for length, but certainly could if she tried harder, and she wears a lab coat, crisp and white. _She must be an ME_ , he guesses, and he watches as the Coffee Goddess brings the machine to life, dripping sweet sweet caffeine nectar into the pot.

She turns to see him and is briefly startled before she simply cocks a hip, raises an eyebrow, and crosses her arms. "Are you the latest idiot that Ino managed to trick into covering for her?" She questions, sounding as though this happens every day. He nods wordlessly, staring at her. "I thought I told her to stop when she tricked Sai last week..."

"Tricked Sai?" He says, openly gaping. _Does not compute_ , a dorky part in the back of his brain says, still too groggy to be filtered completely before he's had coffee.

"She was scheduled for night shift after one of our night guys said he had the flu. She convinced Sai to trade his afternoon with her. She can't stand showing up before eight or staying after six. Problem is that Sai had a morning the next day and decided to just not go home. It took Shino and I two hours to fix all of his paperwork." There being a mistake in any paperwork Sai fills out also sends an error message directly to his brain, and he simply narrows his eyes at her in confusion. "He needs sleep too, Naruto. He's not a robot."

"How do you know my name?" He questions. _I haven't even seen her around and yet somehow the Coffee Goddess knows my name? Am I more of a zombie than I thought or what?_

She rolls her eyes. "I'm one of the medical examiners. I'm the one who stays up all night with Shino trying to decipher your godawful handwriting. Could you _please_ just fill out reports on the computer and email them to us in the future?" He rubs at the back of his neck in embarrassment and nods. They continue to stand there in silence until the coffee finishes, and she pours two huge mugs before turning to leave. "Oh, it's Haruno Sakura, by the way. For the emails."

It is a full month before he meets Kiba and Akamaru, having to call in a K9 officer to sniff out drugs in a car he pulls over one afternoon. "You know," he says matter-of-factly when he arrives on the scene. "The weed smell in the car is so strong you probably don't need a dog to find it." Sure enough, it hardly takes fifteen seconds for Akamaru to bark that he's found something and Kiba to grab a Ziploc bag of cookies out of the backseat. "You're only supposed to call us in if you can't find it on your own, newbie," he teases when they get back to the precinct, Kiba with the drugs and Naruto with the apprehended high driver.

Then there is Uchiha Sasuke. Tsunade calls him into her office nearly three months after he's started working at the precinct and informs him that they've had a new officer transfer in from the 11th precinct after getting into a fight with one of their officers, and Naruto immediately knows that this meeting is going to be, to steal a phrase from Shikamaru, _a total drag_.

"You two are going to be partners," she says, glancing over whatever folder is on top of one of the mountains of paperwork on her desk. She hardly seems to be reading anything in it so much as skimming the various pages, but eventually she glances up at the both of them where they sit staring at each other in disgust. "This isn't up for debate. What are you still doing in my office?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so fun fact, Sakura is a medical examiner, which is a sub-career of forensic scientists! Shino is a forensic science technician. If you're a forensic scientist, or anyone who works in a police department, you might eventually squint that the fact that I will have Shino both working in the forensics lab and going out on the field to analyze evidence-- these are usually separate jobs! However, the image for Shino and his position in the precinct I had in my head before doing my research was as what I was just calling "lab tech" and it was basically that. I appreciate any constructive criticism people are able to leave me, but in this specific case, know that I did the research and I do know-- I chose to bend the facts a little bit, anyway.


End file.
